Pages

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Just a Small Town Party

This is it folks. My dream...put out there on the line. Tonight I was truly tested on what it is like to be a writer. It started with a hectic day at work. I had spent some time tweaking my Lucky article. I was pretty much done, but it needed some additional content and I needed to work on the pictures. I wrote a good 500 extra words and found some great food recipes. When I left work at 5, I knew that I had the article ready so all I had to do was to get some pictures ready (aka, come home..throw on a dress, heels and mascara) and pose for some pictures. Simple enough right....

I had Josh do the pictures in the forty five minutes between when I got home and he had to go to work (the life of a server). So that puts us around Friday night...6 pm. T-minus 6 hours left until the contest closed.

6:15 :I change into my sweats and I upload pics. I love the ones of me in the kitchen but you can't see my shoes. The full body shots in the hallway are perfect, except the large visible picture frame.

6:20: I change back into my dress and show Olivia and Layla how to use our SLR camera. After fighting over who got to take more pictures, I break up the fight and take back the camera

6:22: I upload pics and decide I love them all. I get my edits done and my mom calls. We had talked about going to the high school football game with the girls. I decide I have all the pictures ready, and stopping for a couple hours would be acceptable. I go get dressed in my brisk fall best (Josh's hoodie).

7:00: My mom picks me up for the game. We go to the game. I am as always impressed with her ability to "create" the perfect parking spot.

7: 15: We get to the game. The kids immediately ditch us to go find their friends.

7:25: The girls return to get money for snacks. Layla reaches in her pocket to find $4. She buys M&Ms for all of us and lollipops for all her friends.

8:00: Liv wants another snack. I give her $5 from my mom's pocket and instruct her to get me some popcorn and what ever she wants

8:05: Liv returns with three bags of M&Ms and a Diet Coke. I have to go get popcorn

9:00: Mom and I are unable to feel our toes and decide its time to go. Its 3Q and we are up by 10 points.

9:05: We are back at the car. Someone else has parked next to our made up spot. I compliment Mom for being a real trendsetter.

9:45: I am home. Kids are coloring and coming down from their M&M buzz. I need a beer to get to work My nerves are a bit on edge from all the pressure of doing my absolute dream job..even for a night..that and competing against 100 or so people for 10K. I cant find the bottle opener (all we have is Great Lakes). I look everywhere. I look in my room, in the bathroom, in the kitchen. No bottle opener. I have a friend who is always calling me out for never having a bottle opener. She told me she was going to buy me a bulk pack of bottle openers. Finally, I use a BIC to pry open my beer.

10:15: I go to my lap top. I open the program to submit my article. I look at the article on my desk top. I realize it is not the current article that I have perfected and more importantly saved to my desk top at work.

10:16: I panic
10:17: I take deep breaths
10:18 : I cry
10:19: I laugh

10:20: I decide I will have to start from scratch. I go paragraph by paragraph and redo the content. I go online and find two new recipes then make a reference to running like hell to GFS

11:00: I start to insert pictures. They don't work
11:05: I google "Writing HTML"
11:06: I cry again
11:07: I register for a FLIKR account.
11:10: I start the process of uploading all my story pics to FLIKR
11:15: Josh arrives home. I give him the intense "I may loose my mind look"
11:20: Josh goes to the bathroom so I know I am good. I get my pics in and use the HTML editor to add pics
11:28: I realize there is no "spell check" option
11:30: I laugh
11:32: I copy and paste the whole article to Word to try to find my errors
11:33: I realize I can't copy and paste back...the HTML wont work. I revise my work the old way...by reading it and trying to find spelling errors
11: 40: I submit my draft. Phew...20 mins remaining
11: 41: I realize I wanted a set of pictures to be bigger and I need to edit the HTML. I click "edit"
11: 43: The page loads back to where I can edit. I notice an A symbol that looks like a triangle has infiltrated parts of my story.
11: 44: I take two deep breaths and open another beer
11: 50: I have (hopefully found all the As)
11:51: I submit again
11:52: error message. I didn't type in the little weird looking letter box thing right. (since no one in their right mind can figure out what those figures are)
11:55: I resubmit the article
11: 55: The article is accepted. I get a note that I am free to edit the article as long as the contest is open. I don't want to risk it...So I get the hell out of there.

I think what I am trying to say is...PLEASE vote for me. I know the page is terrible to navigate. (trust me...I just spent two hours trying to do it). I will keep trying to figure out easier ways to navigate the page and share them. I am moving closer to getting my new blog up and running...well I am still writing the business plan..but this experience has given me the confidence to move forward. THANKS!

Find Me Here

I am a busy mother of four who loves to write. The Pursuit is exactly that, a journey. It is failure, self discovery, humor and all the wonderful things that make me human. I can't promise perfection but I hope you will join me on this adventure.